White things should look white. Teeth, snow, crisp white shirts, white sneakers, and yes, even the whites of your eyes—i.e., your sclerae.
The sclera is the tough and fibrous white tissue wrapped around the eyeball. It serves as a barrier, shielding the underlying eye tissues from injury, and helps stabilize the eye structures amidst eye movements and intraocular pressure changes. It’s obviously functional, but it’s aesthetic, too—which is why you need eye drops for red eyes. You see, you look your best if the whites of your eyes look a vivid white instead of red and bloodshot.
1. Healthy Appearance
When the sclera is a clear, bright white, it signals good health. In this way, the sclera is a key indicator of vitality and well-being.
Yellow sclera can be due to jaundice, a symptom of various conditions, such as liver disease, gallstones, malaria, pancreatic tumors, and sepsis. Eye redness can be due to eye strain, hypertension, glaucoma, an eye infection, or allergies.
Indeed, when the whites of your eyes are anything but bright and vivid white, they hint that something’s not quite right with you health-wise. If you want to be the picture of perfect health, make sure your sclera is white.
2. Clearer Eye Contrast
The sclera serves as a built-in contrasting backdrop for the color of your eyes. Your pupil is black and surrounded by the iris, which determines your eye color.
Trivia: The more melanin in the front layers of the iris, the darker your eye color. The majority of people in the world have brown eyes (79%). Gray and violet are two of the rarest eye colors. Green and hazel are uncommon, too.
Imagine how so much more striking your eye color is if the white of your eyes is a luminous white color? Your green eyes would look incredible, your hazel eyes stunning, and your blue eyes mesmerizing.
3. Youthful Look
Do you have young children? Look closely into their eyes. Examine any young person’s eyes. Chances are high you’ll see the whites of their eyes unmarked by enlarged or irritated blood vessels.
Indeed, a flawless sclera is often associated with youth. As people age, the sclera can develop discoloration or dullness, so a whiter sclera signals vitality, energy, and youthfulness.
4. Beautiful Eyes and Face
You’ve probably heard this key communication rule countless times: You must maintain eye contact when talking to people. A radiantly white and bright sclera will make you more confident about staring into people’s eyes and letting them gaze into yours.
A pristine sclera makes your eyes look beautiful. It also enhances your overall facial aesthetics, adding balance and improving the perceived symmetry of your face.
How to Restore or Ensure the Whiteness of the Sclera
There are several strategies you can try to revitalize the white of your eyes and restore it to its former white glory. Here are five of them:
1. Get a checkup.
Are your eyes always bloodshot? They may just be fatigued, so some sleep may be able to fix the redness. However, it’s best if you can try to eliminate underlying health issues first by getting a checkup.
The medical conditions that can cause redness include:
- conjunctivitis (pink eye)
- dry eyes
- allergies
- episcleritis (inflamed blood vessels in the episcleral layer)
- subconjunctival hemorrhage (broken blood vessels leaking blood into the white of the eye)
Your doctor can help address the underlying medical condition, if any. Successfully treating it should also resolve the redness and restore the whiteness of your sclera. If redness persists despite home remedies, it may be a good idea to consult an ophthalmologist for expert evaluation and treatment.
2. Use lubricating and illuminating eye drops.
Eye dryness can cause eye redness. Tears are the eyes’ natural lubricant, and the lack of tears or the inability of the eyes to produce enough of them is the underlying cause of this dryness.
Using lubricating eye drops is, therefore, one of the quickest fixes for eye redness and an essential step to restoring the whiteness of your sclera. Instead of using regular lubricating eye drops, look for a product with a redness relief ingredient.
Your eye drops should do more than just lubricate your eyes. It must work to counter and relieve redness without using bleaches or whitening dyes.
3. Drink enough water.
Dehydration can lead to eye dryness, which can cause or aggravate redness. One crucial strategy for keeping your sclera looking white is drinking enough water daily.
Excluding your level of physical activity, you must divide your body weight (measured in pounds) into two and drink that much water (measured in ounces) daily. For example, if you weigh 130 lbs, you must drink at least 65 oz of water, which is equivalent to around 8 cups. However, if you weigh 200 lbs, you need at least 100 oz of water or approximately 12.5 cups.
If you’re physically active, you must increase the amount of water you consume. Adjust your base daily water intake level by adding 12 oz or 1.5 cups for every 30 minutes of a physical workout.
Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers should add from 24 to 32 oz (three to four cups) of water, depending on body weight.
4. Sleep well.
Notice how your eyes look red if you stay awake all night?
You must get enough sleep, a solid seven to eight hours per night, to keep your eyes refreshed and your sclera energized and looking bright.
5. Stop touching and rubbing your eyes.
Rubbing your eyes can irritate, inflame, and abrade them, all of which can lead to eye redness. Resist the temptation to rub, scratch, or touch your eyes.
If they’re itchy, use a cold compress to soothe the itching or inflammation. If the irritation is due to allergies, resolve your allergic reaction with antihistamines.
Have Healthy Whites
The whites of the eyes are functional tissue, but they can also make your eyes (and face) more beautiful, so keep them looking bright and white.
You can accomplish this by not rubbing your eyes, addressing any health conditions that cause red eyes, sleeping well, drinking enough water, and using eye drops that actively relieve redness.